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Wednesday, 10 March 2010

Oman: Fish night at the Al Bustan

There were increased security measures at the Al Bustan in the evening due to a meeting of Arab Education Ministers. I passed through the token scanner in the lobby and met the rest of the family in the Al Khiran restaurant for the seafood buffet night. Fortunately, we had booked a table outside which put us out of earshot of the two singers warbling cheesy love songs throughout the evening.

We fought with wealthy German tourists for each course, but found sanctuary in the excellent sweet and sour hamour which seems not to appeal to the German palette. The food (but not the atmosphere) was reminiscent of the weekly poolside fish nights at the Sheraton in Ruwi which were a regular part of Muscat life before it was closed for renovation (opening again in September 2010). Mrs M’s final attack on the sweet section put any prospect of wearing a slinky dress to the ball at the weekend in serious jeopardy.

As we left, the restaurant was filling with delegates from the meeting, some of whom were already staggering back to their seats with plates loaded with enough food to feed an entire village.